Dan Slee

You would have to be living under a stone not to realise that the Black Lives Matter protests were taking place.

Sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in the USA protests have swept the world leading to a murder charge and heightened tension.

I began to see these issues argued about on community Facebook groups between those for the protests and those against. Being someone fascinated with how groups work this it got me interested.

Looking at it, there’s been a four act play of narrative and counter-narrative in UK Facebook groups.

Act One: Death of a man in police custody

Pretty straight forward. A tragedy happens and reactions start.

Act Two: Protest sweeps the world and protests take place in the UK

They are global and tap into deep feelings. They even reach Leamington Spa.

Act Three: Counter protest: But what about Lee Rigby?

The far-right seek to undermine the protest against the death through whataboutism. This is the strategy of pointing to another thing instead. Memes supporting this pointing to the murder of Lee Rigby do this.

One was a bloody image of Rigby’s killer knife in hand minutes after the murder.

This one was more presentable:

Act Four: It gets interesting with the sharable content from Lee Rigby’s family

Lee Rigby’s Mum steps in and posts an image with text to the Lee Rigby Foundation Facebook page. She criticises the use of her son’s name and related images to attack the protests.

The Rigby family statement on Facebook can be seen here:

For me, this is the most interesting part.

By and large, the Rigby family have kept a distance from too many public statements about the murder of their son by IS-sympathising Muslim extreemists. Who can blame them? To lose a son in such a barbaric way must be crushing. So, the intervention was measured and definitive.

What it did do was provide ammunition to people angry at the attack on the Black Lives Matter protest. The far right meme’s thrust was clear: you can’t be a decent person if you protest this thing in America because you didn’t protest Lee Rigby’s death. This regained that ground.

But how did it play out on Facebook groups?

I got out my calculator and randomly trawled through 25 of the West Midlands Facebook groups I’m a member of. That included Warwickshire, Dudley, Herefordshire, Birtmingham and Stoke-on-Trent.

I was starting to see the to and fro of debate in groups and it was meme and counter meme that kept recurring.

Almost half the Facebook groups mapped were debating the issue of Black Lives Matter protests.

A third had a version of the right-wing Lee Rigby meme.

Less than a fifth had the Lee Rigby family counter-meme.

But, it was memes that captured the debate.

Table: Facebook groups in the West Midlands debating Black Lives Matter

So, what does this mean for public sector communicators?

My own take on this is simple. There’s a need to create shareable content with a message to fight fire with fire.

What was striking in the debates online was that it was all taking place in the group itself. None of the debates were pointing people towards other resources or websites. This is entirely typical of Facebook. Users have been encouraged by the platform to stay on the site and not to navigate away.

There are going to be times when you need to create content to win back the narrative.

But hang on, accessibility

And now the spanner in the works.

Debating this in the Public Sector Headspace Facebook group several people quite rightly pointed out the broad need to create accessible content. In other words, text on an image isn’t cool if it doesn’t have text in the body that can be read by a screen reader.

But hang on, the future of democracy

Fake news is misinformation and disinformation that is designed to influence political decisions. It has been identified as a threat to the fabric of democracy by a Government enquiry

So, doesn’t that matter?

And this is where the $64,000 question comes in.

At what point does it become more important to tackle fake news than to serve accessible information?

And this, I think is a question that communicators must answer.

Sometimes you can do both. An image with text and an accompanying passage of text may be a compromise.

But broadly, I don’t think its a sliding scale of blanket ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

When for me its perfectly fine to share inaccessible information

In the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack, Greater Manchester Police were swift in owning the story online. They posted to Twitter updates and presented them as images with text and a logo.

Like this one re-purposed by a local news account:

I know that some people will object to this and that’s fine. I respect that perspective but given the circumstances, I’m fine with this. Yes, this could be more accessible but against a backdrop of a terror attack I’d argue the importance of putting out timely information was the most pressing thing.

In video skills training, adding subtitles makes sense. But I get that in an emergency a piece to camera without delay is sometimes needed.

New legislation gives you a window

The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications Act) 2018 is coming into force on September 23 2020. This snappy law asks public sector to make accessible content on their website and any app they’ve commissioned and built themselves. But it makes a series of exemptions and one mentioned are third party sites. There’s an argument that social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter are third party sites. I’d like to hear the views of people who work in this area.

But, the $64,000 dollar question

It all comes back to this.

You need to be able to create shareable content and you need to work out when winning the argument is the most important thing. This is an entirely personal decision.

EDIT: I’ve been asked by email why I’ve used the phrase in this blog ‘debate’ when there is no debate, of course black lives matter. That’s an idea I’m sympathetic to. I used the word ‘debate’ recognising that there are people who don’t agree with the Black Lives Matter campaign which the survey of 25 Facebook groups confirms. However, I’ve upgraded that to argue as this reflects the tone of clashes I’ve seen. In a blog that looks at two rival opinions and the use of memes to play them out its important to recognise the fact there are two opposing sides. I’ve also been asked why I’ve cut straight from the death to stats. In a nutshell, after 12 years as a journalist I have a voice in my ear that tells me that nobody really cares what I think. But I have edited to point out the murder charge and heightened tensions. My own view is that I hope justice is served in this profound tragedy.

You know you’re getting old when two moments from your life flash before you in a documentary film.

I stumbled on artist Jeremy Dellar’s ‘Everybody in the Place’ on YouTube this week. 

In it, he talks to VI form students about Acid House and the impact it had on Britain.

It marked a moment when people seized the means of production. In other words, people bought cheap samplers, made the music and organised the parties where it would the music would be danced to. Karl Marx would have understood this. 

It was the moment when the 21st century started. 

In 1990, Britain was a different country

People made-up their own networks using the technology that was in their hands.

Dellar reckons it marked the moment Britain changed from an industrial economy to a service economy. Quite literally, people were dancing in the warehouses where their ancestors operated lathes.    

I was involved in all this from 1990 to 1992 when dance had moved from warehouses and into nightclubs. The two moments? Dancing at Shelley’s in Stoke-on-Trent and one bizarre night when the Hit Man and Her was filmed at The Eclipse in Coventry.

Thinking about it, lessons I learned then endure.

You don’t need permission.

You just need the means of production.

Anyone can build a network.

It always goes a bit rubbish when money is involved.

Let there be house

“In the beginning there was Jack and Jack had a groove and from this groove came the groove of all grooves and Jack declared: ‘Let there be house.’ And house music was born. I am the creator and this is my house and in my house there is only house music but I am not so selfish because once you enter my house then it becomes OUR house.”

– Jack Roberts, ‘My House (In the beginning there was Jack)‘ , 1988. 

To be a decent communications person you need to understand all this and how networks work.

This documentary is a good place to start: 

Picture credit: Flickr / Documerica

In a fast-moving arena fresh data is essential to keep you up to speed.

Just because you always have doesn’t mean you always should.

So, if you’re involved with public sector comms the latest rolling data from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism should be useful.

Four things to take away:

People are trusting the Government as a source of information less.

People are trusting news media less.

People still trust the NHS.

People don’t trust politicians.

The breakdown of the figures from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism can be found here but one of the key tables is here:

It goes without saying that the overwhelming number of public sector comms people must be apolitical. The figures are not presented without political opinion and to help people give the best advice. Particularly when people in England may have to present communications around a local lockdown.

So what does this all mean?

It points once again to creating local content and to have doctors and scientists front it.

One thing I admire the Government Communications Service for is to act on the data.

There’s the data.

Act on it.

Picture credit: Flickr / Documerica

I’ve been meaning to write this for literally years but a chat in the Public Sector Comms Headspace group prompted me to finally write it. You may be getting asked to do things on Facebook that you don’t think will work. Rather than saying a flat ‘no’ here’s the beginnings of a reply for you.

Dear [INSERT NAME]

You’ve asked me to post [INSERT TASK] to the corporate Facebook page.

This can be done. My clear professional advice to you and the organisation is that this would be damaging. Let me explain and suggest the most effective course of action.

Firstly, we need to know some basic principles about Facebook.

We also need to know that Facebook strongly discourages people from navigating away from Facebook. We need to put all the information on Facebook in an engaging way.

We need to know that Facebook is Facebook. We need to avoid the siren-call of merely replicating what we’ve done elsewhere.

We must understand that Facebook is a social media platform governed by an algorithm that seeks to shape people’s experience. This algorithm is a closely-guarded secret and changes often. But there are three ways we can understand it. They are: what Facebook says, what other user do and say and what we can discover ourselves.

What Facebook says is easy. Every year they stage a conference called F8 where they talk about the broad direction of travel. From this we know that people see fewer updates from pages they like. Instead, they will see more from friends and family. So, as an organisation with a page we have to be very protective of what we post.

From this we know that posts we make that don’t engage with people are marked down by the algorithm, shown to fewer people and do us no favours for future posts.

From this we also know that repeated content is marked down as being less interesting. Video or an image used over and over won’t engage and if it won’t engage it’ll get shown to fewer people.

What others say and do is also easy. Companies that specialise in social media will post insight on how they have used Facebook as a way of demonstrating their superior skills to others. While we should not blindly accept every blog post there is a collective bank of knowledge that we do well to draw from.

From this we know research on the most engaging types of content. So, video is the most engaging followed by an image followed by a link and lastly followed by text.

What we know is also easy. Facebook gives us lots of data around how our post performed, how many saw it, how many people engaged with it and where they were from. Our lived experience is really valuable.

From this we know exactly who our Facebook audience is, what sex they are, what town they live in and what kind of content they like. Think of it as as room of those people. If you go in and deliver the wrong speech to the wrong audience you’ll fail.

We know that content is king. If content is unique, engaging and interesting then it has a chance of flying high. If it isn’t it won’t.

From this we know that a regional daily newspaper can post 20 times a day and be rewarded with good engagement providing it has enough material that people are interested in. We know that if we repeat post frequency ourselves without the content we will fail. It is a quality not a numbers game.

So, in summary, we can [INSERT TASK] but I strongly recommend away from this course of action. However, if we together create something that’s relevant to the audience, unique and interesting on a channel that’s appropriate then we have a chance.

Yours,

[INSERT YOUR NAME]

A mate used to say that the secret being a parent was thinking of things as phases.

So, the colic phase will end and eventually the toilet training phase will begin and that way nothing lasts for ever.

This is probably a good way for public sector communicators to approach the COVID-19 pandemic.

The adrenaline phase, as one person described it is over. So now is the #clapforcarers phase. In England anyway, we’re entering the local lockdown phase. This means that local restrictions may be introduced for schools, workplaces or towns.

So, how exactly is that supposed to work?

Here’s five thoughts about how to prepare for it.

Write a comms plan NOW

The best comms plans involve several people who are involved in this. So, in England the Local Resilience Forum which is made-up of police, fire, NHS and council. I’ve written a template for a comms plan here. It’s a straight forward process. Create something that’s a template that you can re-purpose.

Get a designer on the job NOW

Once you’ve got the brief and you have an idea of the messaging get a designer booked. You may need shareable social assets that you can re-purpose but you may also need things like letters, posters, leaflets and other things you can quickly re-purpose.

Get a web developer on the job NOW

You’ll need web content. How is that going to look?

Data says you need a local voice

Fresh research from think tank New Local Government Network shows two things. Community has played a huge role in the COVID-19 response and that people have faith in community. The 2020 Leadership Index reports 95 per cent of respondents say community groups have played a significant role in their council’s role and faith in community trackers in their survey has never been higher.

So, go local.

Good practice says you need a local voice

The first phase of lockdown was about the national message. Across the UK, stay home, stay safe, protect the NHS. Later messages have been mired in the Dominic Cummings controversy. But as far as local lockdowns are concerned it needs to be a local voice that delivers it.

Of late, Wigan Council, for example, have shunned the controversial Stay Alert messaging and have adopted their own branding preferring ‘Stay home, be kind.’

For a local lockdown to work, it feels as though it needs a distinctive local message. .

National data says you need a local voice

There’s no dressing up that the Cummings issue has been a moment to damage existing messaging. Polling says the issue will make it harder to cut through.

Yougov polling is clear that the Government will now find it harder to land messaging

But if the audience is local, then it’s a no brainer to create something with a distinctive local feel.

No, but REALLY give it a local voice

Boris Johnson asking Quarry Bank in Dudley to lockdown? Probably not going to happen and even if it did would he be the most effective way to talk to people.

But the local public health director is the person for the job and so is the beat sergeant, the nurse, the GP and the firefighter. So, what would that content look like?

How would a Facebook Live with the Public Health director work?

Take it to where people are

I feel as though I’m repeating myself here but you need to go to where people are. They are not following your corporate Twitter account. They are in physical places locally and they’re also on Facebook in community groups.

I’ve just finished a project which has engaged with more than 140 Facebook groups across the wider West Midlands. Take the message to where people are.

Enlist help

Comms teams who are running on empty will be forgiven for rolling their eyes at all of this, of course. There’s no way they can do everything particularly connecting with Facebook groups.

So, I’m going to suggest something. There is a large number of people who volunteered at the start of this and haven’t really done much. Go through the NHS if you need to but try and enlist their support in sharing basic comms messages through their own networks. A local message delivered by a neighbour lands better than a national one on a website that doesn’t get looked at.

Prepare in peace time

Of course, the places in England where there are already high numbers must be holding their breath already. So, good luck Barrow-in-Furness, Newham and Brent.

But preparation now may make life easier further down the track.

This is a time where comms needs to take the lead.

Picture credit: Documerica / Flickr

When you go through life you can learn lessons from people who have come before you.

In the time of COVID-19, public sector comms teams are beset by all sides with pressure, stress and a need to communicate clear messages.

Search for the line ‘we live in unprecedented times’ and Google gives you 147 million pages to chose from. Which is in itself unprecedented.

One person who has lived through a long stressful chapter has been Amanda Coleman who when head of comms at Greater Manchester Police navigated the force through the Manchester Arena terror attack where 22 people were killed.

So, the Public Sector Comms Headspace Zoom chat with her was especially interesting as teams in the UK go into week nine of lockdown.

Amanda was full value and her five points to get through this deserve house room.

Amanda’s five tips for a long running comms crisis

Take time for yourself

The challenge of a big ongoing incident is to run towards it and keep running but after a while your legs will grow tired. You need time to recharge your batteries. Taking time to do something just for yourself is really important. A day off. A half day off.

Keep focussing on something that gives you a bit of energy

Amanda’s tip here is really interesting. When flagging she would focus on something quite personal to encourage you to keep going. For me, that would be family or the idea of aiming towards a time when you could spend some time with them. Yours will be something different, maybe.

Say you need help

As a team or as a manager putting your hand up to say you need help is important. It’s one of the things Amanda says she did earlier. Rather than crack on and keep cracking on until everyone was on their knees burning out asking for help early is actually a sign of strength. It means you can see the bigger picture.

Make time to debrief

The idea of a debrief is to see what has worked and see what hasn’t. It means that when the second wave of COVID-19 hits you’re better placed. You can do that as a team as well as doing it with the wider organisation.

Recovery is a long, long process

I remember the night of the Manchester Arena attack. The news broke on Twitter and the Greater Manchester Police account was active within 15 minutes of the first tweet being posted. That’s impressive and so was the performance of their team. But for Amanda the early response was the easiest. Something has happened and its all hands to the pump. It’s the recovery, she says, that was hardest. It takes longer and more thought needs to go into it. Reflecting on it, that makes sense.

Those were Amanda’s points. The long shadow of the Arena explosion saw workloads soar for weeks and months not days. With the third anniversary of the explosion imminent the work is not yet done. In some ways only 22 deaths is dwarfed by 34,000 and counting but the impact of a terror attack is striking. It is the difference between terror and dread and we’re living in dread.

Amanda Coleman’s book Crisis Communications Strategies is available on Amazon and via good book sellers.